Abstract

The development of thermal conductive polymer composite is necessary for the application in thermal management. In this paper, the experimental and theoretical investigations have been conducted to determine the effect of copper nanowires (CuNWs) and copper nanoparticles (CuNPs) on the thermal conductivity of dimethicone nanocomposites. The CuNWs and CuNPs were prepared by using a liquid phase reduction method, and they were characterized through scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD). The experimental data show that the thermal conductivity of composites increases with the increase of filler. With the addition of 10 vol.% CuNWs, the thermal conductivity of the composite is 0.41 W/m/K. The normalized thermal conductivity enhancement factor is 2.73, much higher than that of the analogue containing CuNPs (1.67). These experimental data are in agreement with Nan’s model prediction. Due to the high aspect ratio of 1D CuNWs, they can construct thermal networks more effectively than CuNPs in the composite, resulting in higher thermal conductivity.